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A 37-year-old Iranian man identified only as Alireza M. hung from a noose for 12 minutes before he was pronounced dead last week in Bojnourd prison, north-east Iran. When his family went to see the body the next day, they realized he was still breathing.

Iranian authorities are waiting for Alireza to regain his health before hanging him again.

A judge reportedly said his execution will go ahead “once medical staff confirm his health condition is good enough,” according to Amnesty International. Amnesty is called for a halt to the execution.

“The horrific prospect of this man facing a second hanging, after having gone through the whole ordeal already once, merely underlines the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty,” said Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

Alireza was convicted on drug charges.

3 other amazing tales of surviving execution:

1. On Sept. 15, 2009, in Ohio, USA, Romell Broom faced execution for the 1984 abduction and murder of Tryna Middleton, 14. Executioners tried to find a suitable vein in which to inject the solution that would bring his death. The failed attempts were painful, and in the end a suitable vein could not be found.

Broom still has not been executed. He is fighting a second execution attempt on two grounds. First, that it would constitute Double Jeopardy, meaning he would be punished for the same crime twice. Second, that it would be cruel and unusual punishment.

2. In 1903, in Amulung, Philippines, two of four convicted murderers revived after being strangled by a garrote for eight minutes. They had been declared dead, but showed signs of life and revived in the church where their bodies were laid. The Los Angeles Herald reported on the incident at the time.

3. Famed 19th century Russian author Fydor Dostoevsky had a harrowing brush with death. He was arrested as a political prisoner. He and other prisoners were taken to a square and lined up to be shot after going through the process of making their final confessions to a priest, donning execution hoods, and so on.

At the last minute, a messenger from the tsar rode up with a pardon.

Dostoevsky was taken to a Siberian labor camp instead. His years in Siberia greatly influenced his literary work.